


Fated

by kissingsherlock



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Conflict of Interests, F/M, Fluff, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, cumberfluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-02-09 19:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1995348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissingsherlock/pseuds/kissingsherlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're living in a world where everyone has their soulmate's name written on their wrist, the only challenge is to find your soulmate. But for you it's different. You and your friend have the same name written into your skin and this is not supposed to happen. You've hidden this secret from your friend for years for the sake of your friendship but that gets more difficult when this soulmate finally walks into your life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not supposed to happen

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language, so please ignore the mistakes. Also this is my first attempt in writing fanfiction. Inspired by another fanfiction ("Name on the wrist") I read on here.

Today´s the day. You're wearing a black dress, that perfectly accentuates your body, for the last time you´re going to set a foot in the Highschool you had to go to for so long. The day of the graduation ceremony and prom afterwards. Somehow sad because of those thoughts you make your way towards your friend Anne who is so busy looking around, searching for somebody that she barely realizes you're standing next to her now.  
“He won't come.”, you say, trying to gain her attention.  
“Who knows? It was worth a try.”, Anne replies and you can clearly see the disappointment in her bright eyes.  
“You don't even know if the story about the other girl who invited him to prom is true. You just read it on the internet.”  
“But what if it is really true and there is the slightest chance of him going to prom with me? Plus I have his name written on my wrist. He's my soulmate and if I don't take care of us meeting, then who does?” Anne gets more and more upset while she´s talking and you know exactly why. She really has his name written on her wrist permanently. Not a tattoo. It´s just there. Everyone has it. The name of their soulmate written on their wrists. The only challenge is to find this particular person but in her case it wasn't the most difficult thing to do. He is a very popular actor. You remember Anne freaking out about it during your endless talks about your soulmates. Well she was talking most of the time because you stayed silent all the years, never talking about your soulmate´s name. But for her finding him was an easy thing to do: finding an actor with such a weird, unique name. Benedict Cumberbatch. You know this name by heart because she had waved her wrist in front of your face often enough, being so proud of what these two words would mean for her future. But that's not the only reason you know this name so very well. You were seeing it every single night before falling asleep, written on your own wrist. It isn't supposed to happen that the same name is visible on two different girl´s wrists, so you never told her, covering the name up with make-up every morning because you didn't want to ruin your friendship over a silly name like that. You stayed silent every second when she was babbling about how much of a crush she already has on him but the last few weeks she seemed to have gone mad. She wrote him a letter, inviting him to go to prom with her because she had read a story on the internet where it is told that another girl did the same thing and now she's hoping Benedict would show up every minute. You are not that optimistic. He's a busy man overall and you´re doubting he would come here just to go to prom with a girl that is quite a few years younger than himself. Suddenly your thoughts were interrupted by a quiet little squeak coming from your friend and as you look at her she seems like she's going to faint any second. Confused you turn around and try to follow her gaze and then you could barely hold back the same noise when you see a tall, strangely handsome man at the other side of the hall, walking towards a group of your class mates who stare at him in silent awe. He seems to ask them a question but they only shrug and fall into silent staring again.  
“You have to go and greet him, Anne.”, you say to her, but she doesn't look like she is capable of enunciating any kind of sound besides excited squeaks for the next few minutes.  
“Anne. Listen to me. He's here. Now you have to go to him and talk.” Still trying to bring here back to reality, you stand right in front of her, blocking her view on him while hoping she will soon find her ability to think clearly again.  
“Can't you go and say hi?”, she begs with those puppy eyes of hers.  
“And what am I supposed to say? 'Hi, Mr. Cumberbatch. My friend urged you to come here but now she doesn't want to talk to you. Do you fancy a drink?'”  
“Yes!”  
“Are you serious?!”, you nearly yell because she obviously ignored your sarcastic way to say that it would be totally embarrassing for both of you if you had to go and greet him instead of her.  
“Please! I'll talk to him later. I promise.”  
“I don't believe you're asking me to do that.”, you say while turning around and already start walking towards him in an almost angry manner but soon your steps slow down as your heart beats faster with every inch you move closer to him. You feel your blood glowing in your cheeks as you´re struggling to take the last few steps as normal as possible even though he turned around and smiled at you, keeping his eyes fixed on you until you're standing right in front of him.  
“Hey.”, you say, already regretting it because your voice was way too shaky for not being noticed by him.  
“Hello! You must be Anne.”, you hear him saying as he shakes your hand lightly and you barely find words to say.  
With an slightly embarrassed smile you explain: “No I'm not actually. I'm (y/n).”  
“Oh. Pleasure to meet you, (y/n). I was just about to say that it was very nice to read your letter but... Where is she, though? I would love to meet her.”  
“She... had to powder her nose. She'll be back in a bit but sent me to talk to you because she saw you walking around here all by yourself.”  
“Well, that's very nice of you.”, he smiled and you could swear your heart skipped a beat when you looked into his beautiful rainbow eyes and you could just stutter a little “Yes.” and had to look away for a second.  
“So.. She had to powder her nose? You're sure it's not her standing there and staring at us from the distance?”  
You knew exactly where to look because it was just typical for Anne to do things like that.  
“Oh. Yeah. She must be back already.”, you try to explain, looking at your friend and can barely hold back a giggle when you see her face go bright red the moment she notices that you both are looking her way.  
“I think we should pay her a visit.”, Benedict whispers into your ear and pushes you ever so lightly towards Anne, his hand burning on your back as you two are crossing the hall. You see panic in your friend's eyes but you can't focus on that right now. You're too busy pulling yourself together after his lips were so close to your ear and his hand is still laying on your back, sending shivers through your veins.  
“She's a little nervous, isn't she?”, you hear him saying with a little grin on his lips.  
“Yes, she is. But that's understandable I think.” A second later, when Benedict looks at you out of the corners of his eyes and you realize you said something stupid, you wished you weren't that nervous yourself and could control your words a little more. Just for today.  
When you finally reached your designation, you broke the silence first. “Benedict, that's Anne. Anne... Benedict.”, you grinned at her a little and then Benedict did the same charming thing to greet her that he did with you and your grin fades instantly. You watch them talking and smiling for a moment before you cast a glance at your wrist, still covered with make-up, and you begin to feel sad. You barely listen as Benedict's voice strikes through your thoughts, calling your name.  
“Sorry.”, you said, faking a smile. “What did you say?”  
“I asked if you'd maybe fancy a drink.” His charming smile again and you admire his face for a second more before you reply: “That would be very nice.”  
Off he goes with a barely visible bow and you can feel sorrow budding in your chest.  
“Oh my gosh. Did you see that?”, Anne squeaks again while you're still watching him walk away, watching his body move smoothly, perfectly.  
“Yeah.”, you mutter and finally avert your gaze from him.  
“He's exactly like I imagined him to be.”, Anne proceeds and you try to fake a smile again, thinking to yourself that he is not really what you imagined. He's better.  
The evening went on pretty smooth and fast. You've watched them dance an endless amount of waltzes from where you're sitting and every single one of their laughters breaks your heart a little bit. This was not supposed to happen. Not two girls for one man. It's not fair. While the song changes you order another drink, almost emptying the glass in one go and then staring at it while turning it in your fingers slowly.  
“May I have the pleasure of this dance?”, you hear a husky, honeyed voice next to you. Surprised you look up to see him leaning down to you, smiling just like all the time before.  
“Of course.” is your answer and Benedict grabs your hand, leading you to the dance floor where all the couples are already dancing just then for you to realize it's a slow dance. This kind of dance where there will barely be a few inches of space between you and him and your heart drops.  
“Where's Anne?”, you ask shyly and let Benedict lay your hands around his neck.  
He huskily answers your question, speaking low while his hands wander down your sides a bit and finally rest on your waist. “Her father wanted to dance with her and I had to let her go.”  
You think to hear a little sarcastic tone in his voice and you try to read his expression but he just does the typical thing he always does when he laughs and you can't help but smile to yourself.  
Finally you can think of a thing to say: “Do you do that often? Going to prom with girls you don't even know?”  
Again he grins and explains that this is the first time he got an invitation to do so and he couldn't really say no. Right after he finished speaking his right hand scammed up on your side and over your arm to your hand, grabbing it lightly before he spins you around one time. Slowly you turn around your own axis and you know exactly that he is looking at you, nearly staring, but you don't care. You smile as you lay your hands back on his neck again and look into his eyes, nearly getting lost.  
“You're looking gorgeous right now.”, you hear his voice reaching out, barely reaching you but immediately you feel yourself blushing.  
“Thank you.”, you muttered and suddenly felt the weird urge to say something – anything – just to break the silence.  
“So... What do you do for fun?”  
Benedict utters a weird sound that you can't really define and his facial features express pretended disappointment and you nearly laughed at this sight.  
“What?”, you try to raise a complaint but he just goes on and adds his voice to his expression by saying: “You really had to start the small talk and ruin everything. I'm very disappointed in you.”  
“Oh I'm so so sorry, Mr. Cumberbatch. How about I leave the choice of a topic for this conversation to you?”, you say jokingly and gain a grin of his.  
“I suggest we just leave the small talk behind and go on to real talk?”  
“Okay.”, you say and try to concentrate while his hands slide on your back achingly slow and he pulls you closer, close enough that you touch his chest every time you take a breath. “So it's your turn to chose a topic that is not small talk.”  
He returns your smile before he bites his lower lip, obviously trying to think of something. The song ends and the next one blends in smoothly having the same slow rhythm and you feel yourself drawn to him even more than before. And suddenly you remember that this shouldn't be happening. He's your friend´s date. Not yours. This is wrong and you know it.  
“How about we talk about why you're so terribly nervous all the time?”, he laughs and you feel his fingers moving slightly on your back.  
“Because...”, you stutter and all the words spin around in your head you wanted to spit all of them out but no sound crawls out of your open mouth. This is not right.  
In this very moment Anne walks up next to you and you let your hands sink immediately. She doesn't even seem to be mad. Her smile is as bright and beautiful as ever and while his touch left you you can feel the warmth that you experienced while dancing with Benedict leave you behind in the cold loneliness. You bring yourself to fake one last smile and then leave the hall. Outside you sit down on a bench somewhere slightly away from the lights of the hall and look at your wrist. You remember how you've sworn yourself not to care about what the name on your wrist tells you, how you've sworn yourself you want to get to know someone, you want to like someone not because you have his stupid letters written in your skin. Gosh, he's amazing. 


	2. It ends tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who would have known that this was the day you met your soulmate just to give up on him 6 hours later.

You sigh and close your eyes, try not to think about his beautiful curly hair, his eyes, his chest pressed against yours. Unavoidable you bite your lower lip then shake your head immediately and open your eyes again.  
“Hey.” You cringe at Benedict's voice right in front of you.  
“You scared me to death!”, you laugh, your heart in your mouth.  
“Sorry.”, He laughs and you can see in his smirking eyes that he's not so sorry. He sits down next to you, leaning against the bench's backrest after opening the button of his grey jacket.  
“Everything okay?”  
“Sure.”, you lie and try not to look at him. Instead you see some girls standing in a bit of a distance but they leave as soon as they notice you can see them.  
After a long time of silence you feel his fingertips on your back and you cringe again. First you smile, smile the happiest smile that ever kissed your lips, but then it fades as fast as it came and you finally find the courage to look at Benedict. He's moved a little closer without you noticing until now. Your gaze wandered over his beautiful face and you can't believe what you're about to say.  
“Can you please stop that?”  
“What should I stop?”, he smiles, trying to look innocent while still moving his fingertips over your back, even touching your skin now.  
“No! Stop.”, you exclaim fully serious now and he seems to understand that you really mean it, his fingers leaving you and his easygoing attitude remarkably stops.  
“I'm sorry, (y/n).”, he says seriously this time.  
“You're her date, okay. I'm too old for this high school drama stuff.”, you say and recognize too late that this too old argument doesn't count for he is at least 10 years older than you are. “Forget that.”, you sigh, barely holding a smile back yourself, not to mention the grin on his gorgeous lips.  
You know he doesn't laugh at you. He approves of your point of view and you're thankful for that.  
Then suddenly he gets serious again, sitting straight up next to you. “I know that she has my name on her wrist for she hardly makes a secret of it.”  
You stay silent but couldn't hide a small smile.  
“But I chose not to let my life be determined by letters on another human being's wrist that say who I am supposed to like. That's not how I want to live.”  
Your smile grows brighter and you're feeling your heart beat with excitement. When you finally look at him, you recognize that he was watching you all the time while explaining this.  
After a long time of silence, you finally find the courage to say.“Fancy another dance?”  
“It's my honour.”, was his response before he leads you inside the hall and on the dance floor. It was a faster rhythm this time and you two were laughing while dancing and swinging around and way too soon the song changes into a remarkably slower one and just like before you shyly lay your hands around his neck while his are on your back, pulling you a little closer. You could feel your hands shake while you're just looking at him, not daring to say one word and just enjoying how he looks at you, at every feature of your face, smiling. You feel his fingertips wander up and down your spine just a few inches but it was enough to send shivers through your body. The night proceeds and you talk and dance, have a few drinks in between until Anne shows up again. She seems to be not so amused about how Benedict and you act so familiar with each other when he's actually her date. When she starts talking she tries to smile, she really does but you can see it's hard for her not to look too angry or disappointed.  
“Can I borrow Benedict for a bit?”, she asks, meant as a joke but it comes around rather demanding.  
You hesitate a little and try to sound casual when you finally speak because you don't want this to end up embarrassing for all of you. Also at the end of the day he is indeed still her date.  
“Of course. I wanted to head home anyway. It got rather late...”  
First you turn to Benedict and try to keep the farewell short and neutral which ended up being an awkward handshake and a crooked smile of yours and a pretended smile of his that couldn't really cover up his confusion. After that you go on fast and hug Anne, wish her a good night and fun while trying to sound genuine. You hated yourself for being jealous of her and at the same time you couldn't help it. The feeling just burned you up inside, knowing that you can't see Benedict again. One last look. You gave in and looked at him one last time, breath in his smell, let him become branded in your mind, every feature of his face, his smile and his eyes. You smile and turn around, close your eyes for just a second to make sure you memorized this evening, every second of it and then you started walking, knowing you will regret walking away for the rest of your life every day.  
Outside you realize that your mother doesn't come to pick you up until 2am, one hour from now, and you couldn't risk driving after you had several drinks throughout the evening. With an audible sigh you sit down on the pavement far enough away from the hall so no one can see you. It was dark outside but comfortably warm unlike the usual summer nights. While you tug on the hem of your dress you could feel that your eyes become watery and your thoughts guide you back to the passed hours against your will. So many girls would have given everything to have a night like this, dancing and laughing with the wonderful and most remarkable man. Benedict Cumberbatch. You let out a short sneer, laughing at yourself because the words you said earlier the day come to your mind. 'He won't come. He's a busy man.' Who would have known that this was the day you met your soulmate and gave up on him just 6 hours later.  
“Pathetic.”, you say to yourself with a bitter smile on your face, hating yourself for how fast you could commit your heart to a man you have known for barely a few hours.  
“What's pathetic?”, a voice behind you says and your eyes widen as you realize that you aren't alone anymore.  
“Nothing.”, you lie and try to wipe away a tear, making it look like you brush your hair out of your face. What is it that you always have to lie to him after he sneaks up on you and scares you with his sudden appearance.  
“Why do you always lie to me when I find you sitting outside on your own?”, Benedict says, now standing right behind you.  
“I think that's enough real talk for the first day. Can we just go back to talking about the weather to make this easier?” You don't look at him when he joins you on the pavement.  
“The stars are wonderful today.”, his honeyed voice says and instantly you lift your gaze towards the sky.  
“Yes... They are.”, you say in awe, smiling because of the beauty of the view that opens up right in front of you.  
“I thought you wanted to go home?”  
“I did want to go. But my mum can't pick me up until 2. Can't drive myself because I had a few drinks.”, you admit and your eyes meet, forcing your heart to skip a beat. You can barely see him through the dark which actually is a good thing because vice versa he can't see you either - hopefully because you don't trust your waterproof make-up.  
“Let me drive you home.”  
“Thanks but no. I don't want to spoil the night.”  
“You can't. Never.”, his husky voice floods around you. “Please let me drive you home.”  
Grateful you accept his invitation and stand up rather shaky on your feet.  
“Careful.” Benedict laughs and lays an arm around your waist to steady you. “It's really better when you don't drive any more.”  
You smile and let him guide you to his car and when he leaves your side to open the passenger door for you, you just stand there with your mouth open. It's too dark and you're too drunk to notice which care it is but you're pretty damn sure it is a really expensive one. “Are you serious?”  
“Oh yes I am. Come in now.”, he smirks and closes the door behind you after you finally managed to move inside the car. You're feeling a weird kind of misplaced in a car like this and you're tensed enough for him to notice. While he's driving he lays a hand on your knee softly. Just on your knee. He knows how to be respectful, not touching you too much, not forcing you into something. He just wants to calm you down and oh he does. The circles that he draws on your skin have a nearly mesmerizing virtue and you don't know if it's the sound of the car or his hand that makes you sleepy, but you can barely keep your eyes open.  
“I would really love to let you sleep, but you need to tell me where you're living, (y/n).”  
You shift in your seat and blink to see in what street you are exactly, so you can give him instructions.  
“It's right around the corner. Sorry that I'm not very talkative right now.”  
“You're tired, I know.”, Benedict says understanding. “I have the same problem. I always have to force myself to talk enough on interviews late at night. Is it here?”  
“Yeah. Thank you.”, you mutter and smile at him, then open the door and want to get out.  
“Wait.” You can feel his hand on your wrist and instantly sit back down.  
“What is it?”  
He looks at you in the most adorable, insecure way you think is ever possible, just to loosen his dark blue tie without any explanation. Confused you stare at him, watch as he pulls it over his head. Then he moves closer to you and puts it around your neck like jewellery and when he lets his hands sink they touch your shoulders too long for it to be an accident.  
Afterwards Benedict explains in the huskiest, most beautiful deep and at the same time most insecure voice you have ever had the luck to hear: “Please keep it so I have an excuse to see you again.”  
“Of course.”, you mutter unable to force any other words out of your throat. Instantly a bright smile covers his face and you can see small crinkles in the corner of his eyes.  
“Thank you... and sweet dreams, (y/n).” Benedict grabs your hand and kisses it lightly, making your cheeks blush.  
“Good night, Benedict.”, you smile and when he lets go of your hand you reluctantly get out of his car. You didn't want to go, didn't want to end this now. You wanted to go back and kiss him. Kiss his beautifully curved lips and you wanted to breath him in, stay with him. But you can't. The door behind you cuts you off from him and you walk through your garden, not looking back. You just smile. Smile because he kissed your hand, because you have his tie hanging around your neck, because he waits for you to get into your house safe and doesn't drive away until you close the door behind you.  



	3. Patience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a wonderful evening with Benedict, you wait for him to come back, talk to you, call you, do anything. But he rather makes you wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really short chapter, but I thought I'd share it with you. Hope you like it. More will follow tomorrow.

As soon as you had the door closed behind you, your mother walks into the hallway. No matter how hard you tried to close the door as quietly as possible, she heard it.  
“I thought I should come and pick you up?”, she says with a sleepy voice of hers.  
“Someone drove me home.” was your answer, still leaning against the door and smiling like an idiot.  
“Ah.” Her gaze wanders to your chest and it was not until then that you realize you had a man's tie around your neck and it would probably cause questions that you didn't know how to answer yourself yet. But this time your mother had mercy with you. “Not tonight.”, she says, pointing at you, then waving her hand in your direction. “Tomorrow we're going to talk about this.” Then she leaves you alone, throwing a goodnight your way which only makes you smile even more. Slowly you start to move, beside the dizzy feeling in your head, you walk upstairs to your room and get ready for bed after looking at yourself with Benedict's tie in the mirror for far too long.  
You wake up just six hours later because of the clicking noise that comes from your window. Slowly you crawl out of bed, blink against the light of the morning sun and when you finally get used to it, you see a tall, dark haired man standing in the garden under your window and throwing little pebbles against the glass. A grin conquers your lips and you've never ran downstairs so fast just to find Benedict waiting for you in the hallway. Without saying a word he lays his hands on both sides of your face and pulls you into a kiss. The most breathtaking kiss anyone had ever given you and way too soon you had to break it to breath in again. His eyes stare into yours and you would have never looked away if there wasn't the girl moving on your right.  
“Anne.”, you say surprised and figured she must have waited in the parlour and judged by the look on her face, she must be very upset. “What are you doing here?”, you manage to say just before she slaps you and you wake up. After realizing you are still laying in your bed, you look at your clock. 7am. The day goes on without bigger incidences. So do the next days, the next week and even the week after that. Three weeks pass without anything special, especially no Benedict. You walk by his tie, that you put on the doorhandle the night he left it to you, because you figured that this was the only spot in your room where it rightfully belongs to. Like every day around lunch time, you check your phone, but like every day since prom, Anne hadn't answered any of your messages. Sighing you lay your phone down and cuddle up on one of the white couches in the parlour with your laptop on your knees. Having nothing to do all day, you scroll through Tumblr, reblog this or that, when you see a picture of Benedict. You smile immediately until you realize who the girl that he dances with is. Your hair colour, your height, your dress. A picture of you and Benedict Cumberbatch made it on Tumblr and the more you scroll down, the more you realize that this is not the only picture and not the only website who knows. There are articles in newspapers, pictures everywhere. Your hands shake as you close your laptop. That was enough. Your heart races and an indescribable weird feeling floods your veins. The memories you thought were private, just your own and Benedict's, are now visible to the world.  
“What's the matter, Darling. You look pale.”, your mother says as she walks into the room and finds you sitting there, staring out of the window.  
“Oh it's nothing.”, you say setting up a smile, that you hope will convince her that what you're saying is the truth.  
“Tell me. Now!” Excited she sits next to you, waiting for you to start explaining.  
With a sigh you start talking: “The man I told you about... The one who gave me his tie. He's not just any guy. He's famous. A famous actor and there are pictures of us all over the internet.”  
“What kind of pictures?” You can easily figure out the shock on her face and add as fast as you can: “No. No mum. Normal pictures... Of us dancing and talking and things like that.”  
“Oh, Darling.” is all she says while hugging you.  
“He didn't even show up again or at least talked to me. Nothing.”, you mutter, letting yourself get hugged by her. “It would have been nice if he did.”  
“Maybe he's just busy or doesn't want the rumours to spread. Who knows.”  
“Yeah. Who knows.”  
Making sure you're okay, she leaves you on your own again to spend the rest of the day in silence. You know it is ridiculous to wait what feels like forever for him to come back but you just can't withdraw from him. You want him to be yours, you want to be loved by him, and only by him. Loved in every meaning of this word.


	4. Long time no see

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After he made you wait for him for months Benedict finally shows up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long! I'm trying to update faster from now on. Thanks for reading this (again) short chapter

Month after month passed without Benedict showing up and the time came that you moved to London for studying Psychology. As the time has passed, Anne started to talk to you again, sorting out the difficulties between you both which was basically possible because you told her that Benedict obviously doesn't plan on seeing you again. Although it makes you incredibly sad, you're trying to be happy, because your best friend forgave you, looking forward to the new experiences you're going to make in London all on your own. Without your old friends, without Anne, because she decided to take a year off before studying and travel around, and of course without your family. That was when you faced your first problem of living alone: earning money. Luckily your father's friend had a small coffeehouse in the city centre, where you easily got a job as a waitress, and a free apartment next to his. It was tiny, honestly, but for now it was perfectly okay. You're on your way to work right now, like every day after class, changing your normal clothes to the obligatory black trousers and polo with the logo written across the chest, before you sign up for your shift. It has been terribly hot the last few days just like today and it becomes clear to you that the colour black was the worst choice of clothing with every hour that you have to walk up and down, take orders and bring ice cream and coffee to the tables you are responsible for. Just when you found time to clean up a bit because your tables weren't used, Sam, a fellow waitress, came up to you asking you for a favour.   
“(y/n)! Can you please make a strawberry ice cream cup and a tea for number 7? I'm really busy at the moment. My tables are all crowded. Pretty please?”  
“Sure. Don't worry about it.” Instantly you start, dropping three scoops of strawberry ice cream in a cup, add fresh strawberries and cream and try to make it look delicious at the same time while hurrying because you assume number 7 might have waited for a long time already. Without any more hesitating you head off to the table the ice cream belongs to but you were stopped midway.   
“(y/n), don't forget the tea!”   
Frustrated you sigh and decide to bring the ice cream to the table before it melts and after that you'd serve the tea. “Who in the heavens drinks tea now. It's burning hot outside.”, you mutter to yourself but instantly put on a smile when you walk around the corner, just to be stopped again. “The tea, (y/n)!”   
“I know, Sam!”, you say, looking at her while walking, so you just realize who's number 7 when you're standing right in front of the table.   
“Hello.”, his husky voice says, making your hands shake as you slide the ice cream right in front of him. A shy smile wanders over your lips as you try to keep yourself together.  
“Hey, Benedict.”  
“Long time no see.”, he says and you can see sorrow in his rainbow eyes.   
“Yeah... I'll bring you your tea immediately.”   
As you tried to go back to the counter, his voice made you stop. “How long do you have to work today?”  
You turn around and look at him, trying to figure out why he wants to know that, before you finally answer: “Two hours left.”  
“Great.”   
“Good.”  
You give him a smile, not the smile you force yourself to put on for the other guests, but the real smile that you had missed the last few weeks. Suddenly the heat around you doesn't seem so bad any more, nor does the black, long outfit you're wearing. It seems like the first time you really experience the beautiful smell of coffee in the rooms, the cooling wisp of wind that floats the room whenever another guest opens the door to come inside. Everything seems so much more worth it as you turn around to walk back to the counter, still with the special smile on that will haunt you for a long time now. With shaking hands you prepare the tea and put it on a plate to carry it to your special guest just to find him crowded by girls of all ages. Your heart drops again and with a bitter smile you ignore your jealousy and make your way through the crowd nearly feeling the need to yell your “Attention. Hot tea coming through.” phrase over and over again because every single one of those girls were so focused on the good looking man. His eyes light up as he sees you and you feel like his smile grew a little bit bigger when he thanks you, using your name the most gentle way you ever heard someone say it. But you didn't even get the chance to answer before a horde of girls where pushing before you and blocking your sight on Benedict. Thankfully as soon as you got back to the counter your boss made a plan to throw out the fans because they started to become a huge problem when other guests began to complain about the girls bothering them. After that the evening went by mostly calm but most of all it was the slowest pace in which time passed by that you ever had to experience. It was your job to clean up so you couldn't even sneak a peak on Benedict while waiting for your shift to end. When you finally got to go Sam's goodbye consisted of her complaining about Benedict: “Do you believe it? He sat there for two full hours sipping at his cup of tea just doing nothing like he waited for something. Because of him I had to get rid of the fangirls outside and...”, but her voice cracked suddenly when Benedict's voice came up behind you: “(y/n), Are you ready to leave?”  
You turn around to see him standing right behind the counter and he was waiting for you and you only.   
“Sure.”, you reply hoping for your voice to sound decent enough for him to think you didn't make a huge fuss about it. The decision you made during the two hour waiting time was that you were going to be mad at him for at least a little bit for making you wait so long and you were going to stick with that well made decision!   
He waited outside the door while you changed into your casual getting up early to go to college outfit that you'd rather wanted to hide from him but at least it looked better on you than the all black fits-all-sizes job uniform. When you got out of the changing rooms you both just stared at each other, too baffled to say anything yet. For a tiny little bit of a second you allowed yourself to look at his lips, wishing that he'd just kissed you. He wouldn't even have to say anything now. Just kiss you and you knew you would be his for all your life. And for the other half of this second you believed he wanted to kiss you as much as you wanted to because he came closer to your face. But then you looked up into his eyes again and you saw the confused look in his eyes that made you regret every single thought you had just moments before.   
He seemed to feel the awkwardness of the situation too when he opened his mouth and uttered his words in a kind of panic reaction: “So how are you?”  
You make a voice similar to snorting and laughing at the same time and you just couldn't hold back what you said next: “You really start the small talk now? I'm very disappointed in you.”   
To interpret his big grin you guess that he understood that you were referring to what he said the day you two met for the first time, smiling with him. The awkwardness was gone so fast you couldn't believe it has even been there and you feel like he never left you that day. The exact same feeling of coming home floods your chest when he lifts his hand to fondle your hair. “I'm so happy to see you.”, he mumbles while studying every single aspect of your face and his gentle words send sparks through your whole body. “I will never leave you again.”


	5. fireflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I promise I'll take you back in time.”, he grinned and added: “And... Here's the place I told you about.”

After you two met at your work place Benedict suggested that both of you find a quiet place and talk about what happened at prom night and where you wanted this thing to go (whatever it is that you now have). He promised you he had a quiet place in mind that was perfect for talking and being alone and you had willingly accepted his choice. What he didn't tell you was that this place he spoke of was hours away from London and after you had been sitting in his car for nearly two hours straight you didn't know if you should have agreed to it. After all you had class early in the morning again and you didn't want to make it a habit yet to turn up late or not at all for class.  
“Are you mad?”, he said looking at you nervously.  
“No.” You hated yourself for telling the truth and really not being angry at him.  
“What's wrong then?”  
“I have class tomorrow morning, that's all.” Throwing a smile at him you hoped he would just leave it so this evening didn't get any more weird and stressful. You just wanted to enjoy yourself and Benedict's company and not think about anything else but him and you.  
“I promise I'll take you back in time.”, he grinned and added: “And... Here's the place I told you about.”  
Excited you looked out of the window but found that you really saw nothing but trees around you. “A forest.”, you stated with slight disappointment in your voice and you didn't even make an effort to put it in subtext. “You know there were a lot of woods near London that don't take two hours to reach?”  
“But this one is special.”, he said and turned off the car engine and lights to reveal little glowing dots swirling around in the nightly air. With excitement in his eyes he watched you as you looked around admiring the view. “I'm sorry about everything I said. This is great.”, you admit with a big smile on his face.  
“I love your smile.” was his answer and you freeze for a second and look at him. Then suddenly your whole body heats up and you feel your cheeks glow and something like lightning strike through your body and make your wrist itch. You're blown off your feet looking at him in his car with the most romantic atmosphere you never imagined possible and you would love to say that you loved his everything but the words remain stuck somewhere between your heart and your mouth.  
Slowly his grin fades and his face takes on a more serious look. “You know... I'm sorry that I left you waiting. I just... I would rather make this an easy excuse for me saying that I've been busy but I don't want to start this with a lie.”  
You nod and go through every possible scenario of what he is about to say. From `I had to get rid of my wife first´ to `I didn't want to be with a normal person like you´ everything played out in your head. Everything but this: “I tried to keep my distance because I know that somewhere on this big planet there's some extremely lucky man who's name you have written on your wrist and I was scared to get to know you because I know if I'd spend one more moment with you I'd fall in love with you you so much that I couldn't let... I know I can't stand the thought of you getting to love this other man.”  
“But now you're here.” Is all you managed to say after everything he said to pour his heart out in front of you.  
“Now I'm here.” He turns his face away and it hurts you so much to see him like this when all you wanted was to tell him that there will be no other guy in your life. No other guy than him because he is everything you want. But you didn't want to built this on something as unreliable as a name on a wrist that could just be a mistake or random decision.  
“I'm glad, Benedict. Really.” you manage to utter after ages of thinking about what to say but really not being able to put words together that wrapped your feelings into something audible for him. You knew it was a mistake and you knew you would hurt your friend. But everything negative you knew couldn't weigh up the gravity that pulled you closer and closer to him every moment after you met.  
Despite the dark you could see Benedict's eyes glow of happiness and you couldn't keep yourself from trying to make his happiness even greater because his glow gave you life.  
“And I don't care what is written on your wrist or on mine. I want to decide myself whom I'm going to spend my time and heart on and I... I can't stop thinking about you. Every day I thought about you.” Your voice started to become more and more sad the more you thought about the hell he put you through. The months of sadness and doubts and self-hate because you hurt your friend. “Even though you didn't seem to care.” You lifted your eyes off of him and onto the horizon but were soon distracted by his hand caressing your hair and stroking your neck. Unable to ignore this sign of affection you look at him again and as soon as you looked into his eyes he began to speak. His body fully turned to you and the way he said it, his words left no doubt that he was speaking the truth: “I assure you I did care. I cared so much that I booked flights to come and see you but I just couldn't until now. The thought of you being happier with someone else but me held me back. I chose to let you be happy with whoever was lucky enough for his name to be written on you because I was so sure that he could make you happier. But I was not able for the best of me to keep my distance to you. I had to see you and now you can decide if I'm worthy of your time.”  
You were unable to breath because every bit of energy you had went into your brain to be able to contain his words. Everything you wanted was to show him your wrist, tell him that it is going to be him making you the happiest you could be but you just smiled. It was your secret that he was trying to make sure you would be happy with him by him staying away from you. This moment should be remembered otherwise. Remembered by the feeling of his fingertips touching the most sensible skin on your neck, the heat that built up in your body and the sound of his desperate words and more than anything the moments before his lips touched yours for the first time. He smiled shyly and you could feel him becoming more and more nervous the more time you let pass without ending his suffering. Your heart skips a beat as you leaned in to end his agony in the most beautiful and honest way possible. He came closer to you and the look on his face proved he waited ages for this moment to happen but he still took the time to caress your cheek and look at your face with the most adoring look in his eyes. With every breath you wasted not kissing him you grew inpatient and with your next breath you gave into his touch and finally, finally kissed him. His lips felt comfortably familiar and his breath on your skin sang songs of love and lust to you while his hands pulled you closer and held you desperately tight. You would have agreed to giving your everything to him right now on the back seats of his car but he never asked you to. For now it was enough for you two to share your breaths after all these months. Only thinking of how you would share your love in the future was everything you wanted right now while you could feel your wrist burning with all the excitement you felt rushing through your bodies.


End file.
